It was over a foot long and looked good considering the beating the poor fellow took. (To recap, I work at a water treatment plant and the screens at the inlet catch all kinds of stuff, including fish)
Forgive me for sounding naive but, do people like to keep these kinds of fish? I gave it to the lady where I buy some aquarium supplies and she said someone may want it. She also said it would eat all of my Bluegill. The biggest Bluegill I have is 5 inches long. Is it true that the Catfish would munch on "my boys"?
I found a Catfish today
Started by
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, Aug 22 2008 10:38 PM
13 replies to this topic
#5
Guest_Sombunya_*
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Posted 23 August 2008 - 10:52 AM
Sorry, no photos. I wanted to get it to a tank quickly and I don't have one that I can use for it right now.
I work for Los Angeles Dept. of Water and Power. The plant is in Sylmar. You've probably seen the Cascade and pipeline coming over the mountains if you've traveled north on I-5.
I find Bluegill, Sculpin, Crawfish, an occasional Shad and one other type I'm not sure of. This was the first Catfish I've seen although I do know they show up occasionally and also during plant shut down. Most of our water comes from the Eastern Sierra Nevada area, sometimes blended with M.W.D. water which is from the Western Sierras and the Sacramento Delta region.
I work for Los Angeles Dept. of Water and Power. The plant is in Sylmar. You've probably seen the Cascade and pipeline coming over the mountains if you've traveled north on I-5.
I find Bluegill, Sculpin, Crawfish, an occasional Shad and one other type I'm not sure of. This was the first Catfish I've seen although I do know they show up occasionally and also during plant shut down. Most of our water comes from the Eastern Sierra Nevada area, sometimes blended with M.W.D. water which is from the Western Sierras and the Sacramento Delta region.
#6
Guest_itsme_*
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Posted 23 August 2008 - 08:37 PM
Yeah, I think I've seen that Cascade thing. Looks like some kind of extreme water slide. Looks about a 45 degree slope. I've wondered what kind of apocalypse that thing was built for. Is it actually used? We have some kind of convoluted water system in California if you're treating water from Sacramento! I'd like to hear more about how that works. That's like almost 400 miles away. I guess we must be talking about drinking water as opposed to wastewater? That would make more sense. So you're handling water from the Aqueduct?
#8
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Posted 24 August 2008 - 12:43 AM
There is a photo of one of the operators holding a Catfish that must be almost 3 feet long. That was when they shut down once every three to four years. Now it's every year so they can't live in the channel as long and grow as big.
I can tell you all about the cascade, power plant etc. Probably be better to do it in another thread or outside of this forum.
I can tell you all about the cascade, power plant etc. Probably be better to do it in another thread or outside of this forum.
#9
Guest_itsme_*
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Posted 24 August 2008 - 03:00 PM
Well, to the best of my understanding, you should be OK talking about the water plant here. I suppose if you feel better, you could move it to the Local Edition West section: http://forum.nanfa.o...p?showforum=138
#10
Guest_Sombunya_*
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Posted 24 August 2008 - 06:20 PM
Actually, I just didn't want to stray too far off topic.
Fresh water treatment plant, obviously. We take raw water and make it safe to drink. Peak production is 600 million gallons per day (MGD).
Depending on usage, snowpack etc. we use anywhere from 100% Eastern Sierra snow pack to 50/50 Sierra/ MWD water. (Metropolitan Water District)
There is a pipe coming over the hill that siphons water from the other side. It goes through a small power generating plant. I don't think any fish can make it through that alive because of turbines and such. The cascade is next to the pipe. Water comes down it when the demand is higher than the pipe can flow. The "steps" are there simply to slow down the water on the way down.
MWD water is blended after the water comes down that hill. We've found drowned coyotes, mice, birds etc. in the inlet screens. Every once in a while they pull out a live or dead deer. Last one was cold and tired, but they let him/her stand in the sun for a while and off it galloped.
Personally, I don't see how anything can survive the trip to the inlet but some do. Obviously I cannot be there to pull every critter out but many birds hang around there all the time and eat things up. And there is a family of Raccoons that visit the inlet every night and gorge on the critters in there.
Fresh water treatment plant, obviously. We take raw water and make it safe to drink. Peak production is 600 million gallons per day (MGD).
Depending on usage, snowpack etc. we use anywhere from 100% Eastern Sierra snow pack to 50/50 Sierra/ MWD water. (Metropolitan Water District)
There is a pipe coming over the hill that siphons water from the other side. It goes through a small power generating plant. I don't think any fish can make it through that alive because of turbines and such. The cascade is next to the pipe. Water comes down it when the demand is higher than the pipe can flow. The "steps" are there simply to slow down the water on the way down.
MWD water is blended after the water comes down that hill. We've found drowned coyotes, mice, birds etc. in the inlet screens. Every once in a while they pull out a live or dead deer. Last one was cold and tired, but they let him/her stand in the sun for a while and off it galloped.
Personally, I don't see how anything can survive the trip to the inlet but some do. Obviously I cannot be there to pull every critter out but many birds hang around there all the time and eat things up. And there is a family of Raccoons that visit the inlet every night and gorge on the critters in there.
#11
Guest_nativeplanter_*
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Posted 25 August 2008 - 08:09 AM
Drowned coyotes in the drinking water. Sounds.... tasty. I probably don't have a complete image of the cascade/inlet in my head, but you think a screening system would be in order. That is, a screen before critters get to the cascade/intake. I'm imagining some sort of wire tunnel here.
#12
Guest_Sombunya_*
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Posted 25 August 2008 - 09:55 PM
Actually, the aqueduct is 338 miles long. Starts at Lee Vining, up near Bishop, CA so it would be hard to keep all animals out. But it's not like we're constantly fishing dead carcasses out of the inlet screens. Just once in a great while. The Dept. owns 5 helicopters (your tax dollars at work) and flies the entire length of the aqueduct every day for security reasons. They also fly all over the city water system, reservoirs etc. maintaining security.
Dead critters in there? The water is treated in such a way that the finished water is extremely clear, very low in particulates. Some of the highest quality water anywhere. And thoroughly disinfected, I can assure you.
When I catch a fish and put it in a bucket of untreated aqueduct water, the water has some color and a bit of odor to it. Essentially river water.
I see the clear, finished water moving through the weir room at 700-800 cf/sec and I get thirsty.
Dead critters in there? The water is treated in such a way that the finished water is extremely clear, very low in particulates. Some of the highest quality water anywhere. And thoroughly disinfected, I can assure you.
When I catch a fish and put it in a bucket of untreated aqueduct water, the water has some color and a bit of odor to it. Essentially river water.
I see the clear, finished water moving through the weir room at 700-800 cf/sec and I get thirsty.
#13
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Posted 27 August 2008 - 10:18 AM
The water is treated in such a way that the finished water is extremely clear, very low in particulates. Some of the highest quality water anywhere. And thoroughly disinfected, I can assure you.
Oh, I'm quite sure. It's just the thought of it. Sort of like how the water from the wastewater treatment plant outfall is also safe to drink, but no one will consider doing so just because of the concept. I didn't mean to imply that you were having water quality issues at all. I'm just surprised that they don't have it covered for safety/security. I know it's not treated yet at that point, but with the paranoia over biosecurity, I'm just surprised. But not surprised in retrospect - it would be rather expensive, I imagine.
#14
Guest_DinkHunter_*
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Posted 11 September 2008 - 04:27 AM
This is very interesting to me! I fish the aqueduct regularly. Mostly for striped bass but I enjoy fishing for the catfish as well. As the saying goes, its a small world... Please tell me more! The aqueduct is a mystery to most, even to the ones that have fished there for years.
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